Media Release

Big Island police are asking for the public’s help in identifying the driver of a pickup truck who sexually assaulted a hitchhiker over the weekend.

The man was traveling Puna bound on Route 11 near the Keaau Ball Park in Puna on Saturday night (June 14) between 10:30 and 11:30 p.m. He picked up an adult female who was hitchhiking alone.

The driver turned off the highway onto a dirt road in the Kurtistown area, where he sexually assaulted the victim.

Her attacker is described as a heavy-set local male in his 30s, approximately 5-foot-7 to 5-foot-10, between 200 and 280 pounds, with very short dark hair, dark skin, hazel eyes and a thick mustache.

The truck is described as an older-model faded pinkish-gray full-size four-wheel-drive pickup with large tires.

Police ask anyone with information about this case to call Officer B J Duarte at 961-2373 or the Police Department’s non-emergency line at 935-3311. Tipsters who prefer to remain anonymous may call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 in Hilo or 329-8181 in Kona.

Police caution members of the public not to hitchhike or accept a ride from anyone they don’t know.